Protea coronata

Protea coronata

Family: Proteaceae

Common names: Green protea, green sugarbush, groenhofiesuikerbos.

It is an upright, rather untidy shrub, 2-3 m tall, becoming a sparsely branched, small tree up to 5 m high. Leaves are upward-pointing, narrowly lance-shaped, green to bluish green, sometimes turning purplish around the flower head, and sparsely covered in long shaggy hairs, giving them a silvery sheen, and becoming hairless with age. Young growth is often attractively tinged red or coppery. The floral bracts are bright apple-green with a dense fringe of silky white hairs along the margins. The flowers are 70-90 mm long, the tips of the perianth segments are covered in white, woolly-cobwebby hairs and the flowers protrude beyond the floral bracts to form the distinctive circular bump at the tip of the flower head.

Sowing instructions: Protea coronata is easily raised from seed sown in autumn, in well-drained soil, lightly covered with clean sand or fine-milled bark and kept moist but not wet. Germination occurs after about 20-30 days. Treating the seeds with a fungicide increases the number of surviving seedlings. Transplant into individual containers as soon as the first pair of true leaves have developed. Seedlings are vigorous and fast-growing, and the first flowers can be expected in their second year.

Locality: Ex Hort. Harvest: February 2025